Masina Fabio, Vallesi Antonino, Di Rosa Elisa, Semenzato Luca, Mapelli Daniela
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Department of Neuroscience, Padua Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Front Neurosci. 2018 Mar 21;12:179. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00179. eCollection 2018.
Error awareness is essential to maintain an adaptive and goal-directed behavior and is supposed to rely on the activity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). However, studies employing electrophysiological methods and functional resonance imaging (fMRI) do not allow to establish a causal relationship between error awareness and implicated brain structures. The study examined the causal relationship between DLPFC activity and error awareness in order to confirm the involvement of the right DLPFC in error awareness and to obtain temporal information about this process, namely when the activity of the right DLPFC is involved in error awareness. Three experiments with three different samples were conducted employing on-line Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). A paired-pulse and a single-pulse on-line TMS paradigm were employed respectively in Experiments 1 and 3, whereas in Experiment 2 a control test was conducted without TMS. In TMS experiments, the right DLPFC was stimulated, considering the left DLPFC and the Vertex as control sites. Experiment 1 showed no effect of paired-pulse TMS over either right or left DLPFC on error awareness. In Experiment 3, independently from the time point during which TMS was delivered, results showed a significant effect of single-pulse TMS over the DLPFC on Stroop Awareness, without evidence for lateralization of the process. Results of the present study partially demonstrate the involvement of the DLPFC in error awareness.
错误意识对于维持适应性和目标导向行为至关重要，并且被认为依赖于右侧背外侧前额叶皮质（DLPFC）的活动。然而，采用电生理方法和功能磁共振成像（fMRI）的研究无法确定错误意识与相关脑结构之间的因果关系。本研究考察了DLPFC活动与错误意识之间的因果关系，以确认右侧DLPFC在错误意识中的作用，并获取有关该过程的时间信息，即右侧DLPFC的活动何时参与错误意识。使用在线经颅磁刺激（TMS）对三个不同样本进行了三项实验。实验1和3分别采用了双脉冲和单脉冲在线TMS范式，而实验2在没有TMS的情况下进行了对照测试。在TMS实验中，以左侧DLPFC和头顶作为对照部位，对右侧DLPFC进行刺激。实验1表明，双脉冲TMS对右侧或左侧DLPFC的错误意识均无影响。在实验3中，无论TMS施加的时间点如何，结果显示单脉冲TMS对DLPFC的Stroop意识有显著影响，且该过程无明显的偏侧化。本研究结果部分证明了DLPFC参与错误意识。
